


In the Dusk We Rise and in the Dawn We Fall

by RooftopRabbit91



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andriel fic, Angst, But also not, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, First Love, Fluff, M/M, Neil and Aaron friendship???, Neil has issues, Rewrite, So does Andrew, Sunrise/Sunset, These boys need some help, i honestly don’t know what I’m doing, switch POV
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 11:33:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20446466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RooftopRabbit91/pseuds/RooftopRabbit91
Summary: The only thing Neil Josten could ever trust was that the sun would rise the next day, even if he wouldn’t.The only thing Andrew Minyard let himself get used to, was the day crashing into the horizon and becoming night.Neil and Andrew might just learn there is more in life they can depend on. Even if it ends up being each other.OR a Andriel focused rewrite of the series, except Neil and Aaron become friends???





	In the Dusk We Rise and in the Dawn We Fall

Orange clashes with Black in a surprising dominance. Neither wants to succumb to the other, to admit defeat. Their similarities mean nothing when fighting for the territory they believe they deserve, that they are owed. But nothing can stop the inevitable totality of the black taking over, from darkening the beautiful swirls of orange and turning them into what they fought so hard not to be. Orange dwindles until the once captivating glow is forgotten. And Black wins.

Andrew always had a thing for sunsets. He doesn’t like them. He doesn’t like anything. (Although sometimes the drugs confuse his brain into thinking otherwise.) But, they were always there. Something that never left, never stopped. An unspoken promise with the universe, perhaps? he thought. So he endured them, and allowed himself to take notice. 

Andrew ends up quite often on the rooftop of the dorms, around the same time each evening, staring at the sky. This time he is down to the filter of his second cigarette as the sun disappears beneath the horizon. He puts out the stub on the jagged edge of the concrete ledge and puts it into his pocket to take care of later. 

He stays long enough afterwards that the temperature begins to drop. He ignores the bite of cold on the skin of his upper arms; not quite covered by his short sleeved shirt or his black armbands. He lets himself drift. Out of his thoughts, out of the haze that is his mind on the drugs. 

Insomnia was not something Andrew was unfamiliar with. It only takes so many nightmares to make the effort not worth it anymore. The thrum of whatever clusterfuck of chemicals they pushed into his system didn’t help either. An hour or two here and there was enough for him to make it through. At least until the weekend when he would drive Kevin, Nicky and Aaaron to the diner and then Eden’s. Then his own special version of NyQuil: a mix of ice cream, cracker dust, and a bottle of whiskey, would knock him out behind the locked door of his room in Colombia. 

The drive back to FoxTower in the early afternoon is silent, like it usually is. The occasional chattering of Nicky almost always goes ignored unless about Exy. Then Kevin would actually contribute to the conversation. So it causes a figurative eyebrow raise from Andrew once Kevin begins talking. Although not before he gives a small smirk and Andrew realizes he actually was raising his eyebrow the whole time. This lack of control is getting annoying. Andrew let out a breath and re gripped the steering wheel.

“So Wymack is leaving this weekend to get the new striker signed, the one from Arizona.”  
“Like I care.”  
“Well I choose him, so he thinks that..”  
Andrew needs no further explanation.  
“When?”  
“This Saturday. The flight leaves at 8am.”

They pull into the parking lot of the dorm and Andrew crookedly pulls into the closest space. They all walk up the stairs and head towards their shared dorm, Nicky and Kevin know better than to give their own two cents on the subject. Andrew continues towards the roof and doesn’t even bother to look back as he answers. 

“We’re leaving at 6.” 

Kevin nods even though Andrew is already gone and halfway up the stairs to the roof already. Nicky and Aaron were already inside, not finding it in themselves to care about all of the melodrama. 

Andrew was barely halfway through his cigarette before the mix of colors were lining up for battle. He lets himself soak it in. He didn’t get to see it the night before. His eyes track the orange smearing itself on to the sky. Just waiting. Waiting for the black to win. Again. Because if Andrew knew anything, if he could trust anything, it was this right here. Black would always smother the light. 

***  
Neil knew that he shouldn’t get used to anything: a town, a car, an identity. His mom made sure of that. Always moving on before anything really began to settle. They were usually out of a place fast enough that people still didn’t even remember his name. Well not his real name, but the one of whoever he was forced to pretend to be. 

Chris in Florida was a straight A loner who got weird looks in the halls and became the victim of countless practical jokes. Jacob in Germany was a cute and quiet exchange student, the girls loved his newly dyed bleach blonde hair. His mom didn’t. Ryan in New Mexico hated Algebra, so he never did his homework, not that he had the time to do it anyways. Nathaniel was---

Nathaniel was a little boy afraid of his father. Nathaniel is a runner, that doesn’t have the guts to stay and fight. Nathaniel is his mother’s son, he had been the only thing she had to hold on to. Nathaniel sleeps with a gun under his pillow; sometimes the nightmares are too real. Nathaniel knows exactly where to severe a man’s artery so they bleed out screaming. Nathaniel misses the weight of a clever in his hands. He can still feel the tingle of its edge on his abdomen. Nathaniel knows the best way to get rid of a body. So when the need arose, he gassed down the car and lit his mother aflame on a sandy beach on the coast. 

Everytime he would change his name, he would have to change himself. And in the process he let go too much, to the point where his real self is left behind in tatters with the other pieces of his false upbringing. So now as He sits on the bleachers of his newest, and last, high school, in nowhere Arizona, he wonders who exactly He is. Nathaniel died in the flames with his mother. He can only think of one name, Abram. Abram, my love. As far back as he remembers, she only said it in the bestest moments. When the fear left her eyes and he could spot contentment. But, it had been so long since is mother called him that. He pulls out his wallet and looks at his newest fake ID. Neil Josten, five foot three, brown hair, brown eyes, 19. He could stick with this one till graduation and then he would leave this one behind like all the others. 

Neil Josten sits on the bleachers after running at an ungodly time in the morning. He has about an hour before morning Exy practice. The first of many broken promises he had with his mother. But, when Neil was playing everything went away, if even just for a second. Exy was, Exy is important to him. And it was worth the guilt. 

A cigarette is burning limp in his hand. The smoke and smell is usually enough to bring him into the inbetween of reality and memory. But, the sight in front of him is enough to keep him grounded. The sun is peeking through the haze of early morning. The dull grey of the sky begins to radiate in the rays of the orange glow. Its warmth begins to spread and he sits there until it seems the whole sky is fully taken over in the red, orange, yellow rays. 

When his mother felt it was safe enough, she would allow him his runs. He ran and ran until his legs burned and his lungs collapsed and then ran faster just because he could. He would only stop when the color began to drip upwards into the sky, He would catch his breath and let himself be distracted by the rise of the sun. It was one of the only things he was used to, and allowed to hold on to. A symbol of a new day, a fresh start. He survived one more. 

A spark of heat from the burned down filter is enough to melt away the daze Neil found himself in. He makes his way back into the locked locker rooms and gets dressed into some sweats and a loose jersey. Once he is outside he jogs over to the track and as soon as his ratty sneakers touch the bright red foam he’s off. Running, running away, not letting his past catch up to him, the louder his chest heaves the quieter his mind gets, the quieter her voice gets. 

Promise me you will keep running. Promise me. Run Nathaniel, you need to run. You need to survive. Keep running. Never stop. Don’t look back, just run. 

He’s at full speed, on the verge of tripping over himself. Just a little bit faster he thinks. But he is running in circles and will never get to what he is running to. He can never escape what he is running from. But if he just goes faster maybe he can stay a little bit longer. Hold on to this, hold onto Exy, hold onto Neil Josten, hold onto Abram. Because there isn’t much of him left and he can’t stand to leave another piece behind. Eventually, but not yet, just not yet.

**Author's Note:**

> Soooooo this was a random idea I had. Hopefully it wasn’t terrible, it’s my first time writing in this fandom. I’m going to keep writing more but tell me what y’all think. I should be back soon, I hope.


End file.
